Artist.......: Kissy Sell Out
Album........: Youth
Label........: San City High
Genre........: Electronic
Catnr........: n/a
source.......: CDDA
rip.date.....: Mar-04-2010
str.date.....: 2009
quality......: VBR/44.1Hz/Joint-Stereo
Url..........: n/a
track title time
01. Through the leaves 04:12
02. Garden friends 02:51
03. Essex boy 03:18
04. Apple jelly 04:17
05. This kiss 03:25
06. Bubs & bizzle 03:43
07. Go explode 03:34
08. Pop bottle 03:17
09. Harriet 06:16
10. Bethnal green cafe 03:46
11. Youth 04:01
Runtime 42:40 min
Size 61,6 MB
Release Notes:
Kissy Sell Out has earned his reputation thus far
largely as a remixer, and latterly as a Radio 1 DJ.
For the former, his list of credits read like the
start of a Who's Who of electronic music. But now,
his ground work done, he steps up to the plate with
a first long player to fully define his sound.
Kissy, real name Thomas Bisdee, keeps a strong
affinity with his Essex roots, which is a sound
approach to take as he's only just up the Great
Eastern line from Underworld and The Prodigy's Liam
Howlett. Given those near neighbours, he has a lot
to live up to.
And live up to it he largely does, with a series of
adrenalin surges that might not be as hard hitting
as anything approaching Born Slippy or Firestarter,
but use a heady grasp of electro sounds, rhythms
and intricate synth writing to make their mark.
Through The Leaves is a particularly effective
illustration, an explosion of joyfully complex
melodies you might expect from a Canadian folk-rock
band rather than a bedroom producer from
Colchester.
Yet that is the main point of Kissy's appeal, that
he does electronics but does them in a style that
proves difficult to pin down until, frankly, it's
best to give up altogether. There's no doubt the
frantic hurry of a tune like Apple Jelly owes a lot
in its rhythm to the sound of DFA, but the ensuing
piano and melody could only come from the UK.
Vocalist Danimal Kingdom contributes a good deal to
this primal energy, and gets away with vocals that
occasionally sound contrived, due to a strong
personality that makes its mark. He's helped by a
series of wicked bass sounds, particularly on This
Kiss, or a web of well constructed rhythms, the
breaks references on Go Explode standing up well.
"Go, explode, and ruin it forever!" he sings,
inciting outright hedonism.
Elsewhere, Bubs N Bizzle is a curious tune, staying
just the right side of novelty in its marriage of a
folksy tune and a dirty bass, while the inclusion
of the well-loved instrumental Harriet towards the
end is a good move, a hyper-tense collision of
elaborate melody lines and breakbeats that finally
break out into a full on dancefloor assault.
A debut of strength in depth, then, full of energy,
with occasional bursts of punky attitude or
unexpected tenderness. Kissy's one to keep an eye
on, as his early mastery of the synthesizer could
well mean there's a classic album in him before too
long.